I'd agree with this and add that merchants/affiliate networks should further encourage better publisher sites by measuring and paying out on metrics around the

I'd agree with this and add that merchants/affiliate networks should further encourage better publisher sites by measuring and paying out on metrics around the lifetime value of a customer. A better customer experience on an affiliate site will drive repeat purchases and ultimately the lifetime value of the customer will be greater than the margins on the initial sale. It would be great if quality publishers could be compensated for "better" customers, because it would reward valuable affilates and cut down on a lot of the thin landing pages that currently plague Google on long-tail keyword searches.